Bitcoin-mining malware enslaves computers
Dumb-as-a-post Bitcoin-mining malware has appeared – bringing further proof that the virtual currency's hyperbolic trajectory is attracting the sort of late-to-the-party shady speculator that telegraphs a jarring fall.
The malware is currently spreading through a wide-ranging link poisoning campaign being run on Skype, a Kaspersky researcher wrote on Thursday. It is not the first Bitcoin-mining malware that has been detected, but its arrival coincides with a period of intense interest in the currency.
Those who click the links are infected with a virus dropper downloaded from a server in India. Once the machine is infected, many other pieces of malware are sent to the computer from Hotfile.com. The malware concurrently connects with a command-and-control server in Germany.
